Quote:
Originally Posted by That Guy
i think willis may be getting pumped up a bit too much. i'm not sure he's really a HUGE upgrade over heyer, he's just the best of a (weak) OT market that may have some upside... still, he wouldn't be expensive, but if I wanted to draft an OT and we signed him, I wouldn't hesitate to draft an OT anyways.
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Willis to me is a very attractive option, more so then a lot of people seem to be giving him credit for. Anyway heres a few things that Willis brings to the table
The Good
1. Size - Bugel has said in the past that as long as you give him players with size he'll be able to do the rest. Dockery is a testement to this as lots of people seem to forget how much Dock struggled early in his career. Then again even Samuals looked like a liability in Spurriers system. Anyway Willis definately has the size at 6'6 315 pounds.
2. Run Blocking - A must for any RT. In scouts evaluation of him, before he got to start 10 games, he was touted as a powerful run blocker that just needed to work on his footwork. Still he creates lanes and in the end thats what matters. I would say that he's probably a step below Jansen in terms of run blocking. Or at least 1st half of the season Jansen which brings me to my next point.
3. Age - At 26 Elton Brown is pretty much at his peak physically. On top of that he is more likely to maintain a high level of play throughout the season, where as a lot of our older lineman broke down last year during the strech.
4. Cost - Probably one of the main draws towards Willis. I think the estimates right now are about 3 millions a year which will probably end up being $1.5 million against the cap next year.
5. Production - The Seahawks two main runners were able to average over 4.3 YPC. Granted that Julius Jones and Maurice Morris are average at best I'd say those numbers end up working in favor of Willis.
6. Knowledge - All he'll have to learn is our run blocking schemes. Still he'll be pretty familiar with the terminology and will already have a grasp on the protection schemes Zorn wants to run.
7. Versatility - Should Rhinehart end up not being a starting quality player Willis will be more then ready to fill in at RG should Thomas go down. Ironically he might be better then Thomas at this point.
8. More Freedom Come Draft Day - Not that I'm opposed to taking a guy like Andre Smith should he fall, and given Vinny's run on pass catchers last year no one should discount the Vinny overkill factor. However the fact of the matter is we won't have to reach.
The Bad
1. Limited Experience - Granted he has 10 games of starting experience we can't say we know to much about him.
2. Pass Blocking - Definately an upgrade over Jansen but he doesn't have the feet, at least not yet, to be left alone on an island vs speed rushers so on that note he's not an option at LT should we lose Samuals (knock on wood). Some will point to the Dallas game as evidence that Willis struggles in pass protection but out of the 7 sacks Willis seemed to hold his own and was not one of the reasons the Cowboys were able to do that annoying turkey dance so often. To his credit he also allowed only 1.5 sacks last year so it's not like he's a liability. Just don't expect him to play LT short of an emergency.